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Conservation Resources 
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[34] 



IN SENATE 



OF 



THE UNITED STATES, W; 

t'EBRUARY 6th, 1816. 

The committee appointed on so much of the Presi- 
dent's message, as relate to roads and canals 



REPORT. 



That a view of the extent of territory, the num 
ber and magnitude oi navigable lakes, rivers, and 
bays ; the variety of chmate, and consequent di- 
versity of productions embraced by the United 
States, cannot fail to impose the conviction, that a 
capacity exists in this country to maintain an exten- 
sive internal commerce. The variety of produc- 
tions peculiar to the several parts, invites to the 
prosecution of a commerce of the most interesting 
kind. A commerce internal, subject solely to the 
regulations of the country, not dependent on, or 
materially affected by the vicissitudes of foreign 
competition, or collisions ; the profits on which 
will rest in the country, and make an addition to 
the wealth of the nation. Such a commerce will 
in its natural tendency, create interests and feel- 
ings, consonant with the great interests of the com- 
munity. Any praciicable scheme, therefore, for 
the improvement of roads and inland navigation, 



' / 



[ 34 ] 2 

having for its object the encouragement and ex- 
tension of a commerce so beneficial, has strong 
claims to the attention and aid of a government, 
constituted to promote the general welfare. 

Such improvements executed on an extensive 
scale, would unquestionably contribute to the gen- 
eral interest, and increase of wealth in the nation ; 
for whatever tends to accelerate the progress of 
industry, in its various and particular branches, or 
to remove the obstacles to its full exertion, must, 
in the result, produce that effect. The contemplat- 
ed improvement in roads and canals, by extending 
the communication for commercial and personal in- 
tercourse, to the interior and distant parts of the 
Union, would bestow common benefits, and give an 
enlarged faculty to the great branches of national 
industry, whether agricultural, commercial, or 
manufacturing. 

The agricultural products, which at present 
from inconvenient distance, their weight, or bulk, 
are unportable, could then be carried to a dis- 
tant market ; the reduction on the charge for 
transportation would become an addition to the 
price ; and a ready market, and increased price, 
enhance the value of the lands, from which the 
products were drawn. 

The general commerce of the country would 
thereby receive a proportional advantage from 
the incree^se of the quantity of articles for expor- 
tation, the facility and extension to the vending of 
imported commodities, as also from a more general 
consumption, arising from an increased ability in 
the community to purchase such commodities. To 
tnanufacturers a reduction on the charge for trans- 
jportation of the raw material, and wrought com- 
niodlty, would be highly beneficial. The benefi- 
cial euects on indlvldna] l-ntercsts, and the cfcncral 



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wealth in society, arising from a system of cheap 
conveyance, by artificial roads and canals, does 
not rest on speculative opinion, or abstract reason- 
ings for confirmation; all doubts, as to the ad- 
vantages, have been removed by the test of expe- 
rience in every country where such improvements 
have been executed on a liberal scale. 

To insure to the pursuits of useful industry in a 
nation, a state of the greatest prosperity, it is only 
necessary to protect their interests from foreign 
aggression, to leave them unrestrained by artifi- 
cial provisions, and to remove, or meliorate, the 
natural obstacles to their exertion, by public 
works, rendering conveyance practicable and 
cheap. 

Such public works, while they are calculated to 
subserve the pecuniary interests of every indus- 
trious class of the community, are highly import- 
ant in a political point of view. The citizens, in 
the most remote parts, would be brought into 
close connexion, by a faciHty to commercial and 
personal intercourse. The common interests and 
identity of feehngs thence arising, would, as a co- 
ment to the parts, bind together the whole, with 
the strong: bond of interest and affection, ffivino: 
stability and perpetuity to the Union. And as a 
means of security, tend to increase our capacity 
for resistance to foreign aggression by rendering 
less expensive, and more effective, our military 
operations. The disadvantages experienced, and 
heavy charges incurred, caring the late war, for 
want of inland navi«:ation alono* the seacoast, con- 
necting the great points of defence, are of too 
recent date, and decisive a character, to require 
any other demonstration that a facility in inland 
communication, constitutes a princinal means o1' 
national defence. 



[ 34 ] 4 

It is believed that improvements so important 
to the political and general interest of society, 
stand strongly recommended to the attention of 
the national legislature. The general government 
alone, possess the means and resources to give 8^ 
direction to works calculated for general advant- 
age, and to insure their complete execution. 

The particular objects of this kind, to which 
public aid should be given, the means to be em- 
ployed, and the mode of applying the pubhc mo- 
neys remains to be considered. 

The objects are, such artificial roads and canals 
as are practicable of execution, and which promise 
a general or extensive advantage to the communi- 
ty; others, of minor importance, that are local 
in their nature, and will produce only local bene- 
fits, will, more properly, be left for execution, to 
the means and enterprise of individuals, or to the 
exertions of particular States. It is, indeed, a 
political maxim, well attested by experience, that 
wherever private interests are competent to the 
provision and application of their own instruments 
and means, such provision and means should be 
left to themselves. 

The great works which are calculated for na- 
tional advantage either in a military or commercial 
view, their execution must depend (at least for 
aid) on the general government. Wherever great 
obstacles are to be overcome, great power and 
means must be employed. To such works the 
means of associated individuals are incompetent, 
and the particular States may not have a sufficient 
interest in the execution of works of the most es- 
sential adsantage to other parts of the community. 
In other cases, where interest might be sufficiently 
operative, the means or the power may not be 



5 [ 34 j 



possessed, their territorial jurisdiction being limited 
sho» t of the whole extent of the work. 

Among many other objects of improvement in 
inlanvJ navigation and roads, coming within the 
above description, the following appears to be re- 
commended by their imjDortance to the attention 
of congress: 1st. Canals opening an inland navi- 
gation along the Atlantic sea-coast. 2d. A great 
turnpike road from north to south. 3d. Turnpike 
roads forming communications between the At- 
lantic and western rivers. 4th. Military roads 
commiuiicaling witli the frontier posts; and, 5th. 
A canal around the falls of Ohio, or o?:)enin<j this 
bed of the river i\t that place. 

The present state of the i^ational finances, and 
the effect which <;ngag1ng in many expensive 
works at tlie same time, would produce, in ra'sing 
the price of labour, seems to point out the policy 
of applying the public means to one, or only a 
few of these objects, in the first instance. 

The difficulty and delicacy of selecting a par- 
ticular object from among many othej's of acknow- 
ledged importance and great interest, is sensibly 
felt. In making the decision, general interests 
must be kept in view, and be hold superior to lo- 
cal considerations. It appears pioper, that when 
the government authorize the expenditure and an- 
plication of public moneys, to one of these objects, 
they should at the same time adopt a system, cal- 
culated to insure, in due time, the execution of 
other works requiring their aid. 

After due consideration, and that ^examination 
which the committee have been able to give to the 
subject, they respectfully recommend to the first 
attention of congress " The Chesapeake and De- 
law are Canal," being in their opinion of the first 
importance, and requiring the aid of the general 



C 3* J % 

government. It forms the central link, in that 
great chain of inland navigation along the sea- 
coast, proposed to be opened. It is believed, 
from the best evidence, to be practicable of execu- 
tion, and of itself, unconnected with other improve- 
ments, will afford the most extensive advantages. 
On this the committee will make a special report. 

Of the different modes which might be devised 
of applying public moneys to objects of internal 
improvements, that of authorizing subscriptions 
for a limited number of shares of the stock of com- 
panies incorporated for the purpose, appears, on 
every consideration, to be the most eligible. By 
limiting the number of shares to be subscribed, to 
a third, or less than one half, of the whole stock, 
there is more security that the government shall 
not become engaged in impracticable projects for 
improvements, and also for the economical expen- 
diture of the funds, than would be, on the plan of 
a direct application, by government, of the pub- 
lic moneys. 

The committee, in order to ascertain what funds 
may be made applicable to the objects of inter- 
nal improvement, with due regard to tlie state of 
the finances, and demands on the treasury, request- 
ed information from the treasury department. The 
information obtained accompanies this report. It 
will be observed that the surplus revenue appli- 
cable to these objects, is hypothetically stated in 
the secretary's letter, as necessarily it must be, 
in the present state of the revenue laws. 

It appears, how'ever, under any contemplated 
change in the existing system, that the revenue 
would be sufficient to supply, after the present 
year, and during a state of peace, an annual ap- 
propriation of 600,000 dollars for the purpose of 
internal improvement. That sum would cpnsti 



t [34] 

iute a fund capable of effecting many valuable ob- 
jects of that kind ; and, under prosperous circum- 
stances, the fund might be gradually augmented 
in the proportion of the decrease of the public 
debt. But, if it shall enter into the policy of go- 
vernment to authorize expenditures m the execu- 
tion of the works calculated for public advantage 
and general convenience, the same policy will di- 
rect to the provision of the means. For it cannot 
be doubted that the resources of the nation are 
amply sufficient, when brought in aid of private 
means, to effect every object of improvement on 
roads and canals, that are of an extensive nature, 
and of national concern. 

The committee respectfully propose, that an an- 
nual appropriation be made, to constitute a fund 
for making roads and opening canals ; that the 
fund shall be put under the direction of the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, who shall, whenever author- 
ized by Congress, subscribe for shares in the stock 
of companies incorporated for making artificial 
or opening canals, and shall pay out of the afore- 
said fund the instalments as they become due on 
such shares ; and that any dividends thence arising, 
when any work shall be completed, shall be paid 
into, and become a part of said fund, and the Se- 
cretary shall report, at each session, to Congress, 
all expenditures, and the general state of the fund, 
as well as the state of the works in which the go- 
vernment are concerned. 

The committee have directed a bill to be re 
ported ambracing the above provisions. 



r 34 ] 8 

Treasury Department^ 

January 20/A, 1816. 

SIR, 

In your letter of the 27th uhiino, informa- 
tion is requested upon the two following points : 
1st. In case the revenue law shou d be modified 
according to the plan proposed by the secretary 
of the treasury, "whether the surplus revenue aris- 
ing from permanent sources would authorize a 
standing appropriation of moneys, annually appli- 
cable to the construction of roads and canals, and 
to wlmt amount. 2. In case the creation of stock 
should be authonzed, redeemable at a future pe- 
riod, to be employed m the purchase of shares in 
the companies formed for making roads and open- 
ing canals, what particular branches of the exist- 
ing revenue would be most proper to charge, and 
to what amount, with the redemption of such 



In answ^er to the first inquiry, I have the ho- 
nour to state, that if the revenue were perma- 
nently established upon the footing proposed in 
the report from this department of the 6th of De- 
cember last, and if the public expenditures should 
net exceed the annual amount therein stated, there 
would be an annual surplus of revenue, which 
might be estimated, during the continuance of the 
peace, at about four millions of dollars. Whe- 
ther the facts assumed by which this result Is pro- 
duced will actually exist, can only be asccrtamed 
when the intentions of congress upon these points 
shall have been developed. 

As to the second inquiry, it may be observed, 



9 [ 34 ] 

that there are no branches of the existing reve- 
nue, which are not already pledged, either spe- 
cially, or in a general manner, for expenditures 
already authorized, excepting certain duties which 
will expire on the 17 th of February next ; and 
which, if continued by congress after that time, 
will probably be substituted in lieu of other duties 
which are now pledged, and which will be dimin- 
ished or entirely abolished. If stock should be is- 
sued under any modifications for the purposes of 
internal improvements, there is therefore no branch 
of the revenue which could be exclusively charg- 
ed with its redemption, without violating prior ap- 
propriations and pledges. But as the aggregate 
mass of the revenue is estimated, after the year 
1816, to exceed the asforreorate amount of the 
charges upon it, this surplus, if congress 
should think proper, might be applied either di- 
rectly to the defraying of the expenses of internal 
improvements, or, if stock should be issued, as a 
fund for its redemption. No necessity is perceived 
for issuing stock for this purpose, unless it shall be 
determined to commence the expenditures before 
the termination of the present year; during which 
year there will be no surplus of revenue. After 
its expiration, when there shall be a surplus, there 
can be no reason for constituting stock, or, in 
other words, for borrowing money. The mo~ 
ney in hand derived from the surplus revenue can 
be applied directly to the purposes proposed. 
I have the honour to be, 

Very respectfully, 
Sir, 

Your most obedient servant, 

A. J. DALLAS 

The hon. Jeremiah Morrow, Chairman of the 

Committee of the Senate on Roads and Cacals 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



028 106 135 5 



Conservation Resources 
Lig-Free® Type I 
Ph 8.5, Buffered 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

028 106 135 



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